First Time to WDW

[CountryDuck]

Our Family are are counting the days to Nov 2-12 when we are making our first trip. We will be there for 8 days and I need some help planning!

I am thinking about staying off site for the first half of the trip and then on site for the last half. Has anyone ever done this? I have been looking at imformation on Quality Suites Maingate East and Island One Resorts. Does anyone have any thoughts on either place?

Does anyone know if there are any days of the week that are better do do certain things on than others. We would like to do some golfing and just wondering if we should plan on doing it halfway through our vacation just for a break.

One last thing(for now), we have to fly into Miami late on the 2nd, and back out again on the 12th. Does anyone know of any place between there and Orlando that would be ok to stay at just for one night.

Any information would be a great help?

 

[maryliz]

For off-site, have you looked into Holiday Inn Family Suites (HIFS) ? It is very close to Disney and the pool there is great for kids. I haven't stayed there yet, but my sister has and her kids just loved it. I'm sure someone here would know a web site to give you about it ... anyone out there that can help with this?

 

[Debbie]

Done the split trip a couple of times, and it is a nice way to: save money and have that on-site experience. Warning though~my 5 kids prefer HIFS to either the Beach Club or Dixie (POR). I prefer the savings! Here's the link to Holiday Inn Family Suites , a stone's throw from WDW. Be sure to check out Mousesavers for discounts on this hotel and others (I hear Caribe Royale is a good choice, too, but I haven't stayed there~check on the Orlando Resorts and Attractions board for more information, too. Hope that this helps!

Holiday Inn Family Suites

 

[SandraC]

Debbie ~ how are you keeping your trip a surprise? I can't go to the Disney Store without announcing it days in advance LOL! Love to hear your secrets! S

 

[Scratch42]

Welcome CountryDuck!

Another site to check out is go2orlando.com
I found them also very informative.

Enjoy your trip.

Scratch

 

[Debbie]

Sandra, actually, only the Disney parks part is the surprise. The 2 girls know that we are going to Universal (got the at Par pass), and that we will visit DTD to get our "fix". They are happy knowing that we are going to go to Blizzard Beach since we never seem to have time to do that. So, they think that we are going for 5 days-3 Universal, 1 water park and 1 shopping. . .but we're going for 10! They will be so excited! Right now, they won't even let me listen to my CD's since it reminds them of Disney! lol

(Oh, and my countdown is for the moment that we enter MK~can hardly wait!)

And Sandra, we're not staying onsite per se. I got the $20.02/$99 rate at the Courtyard at DTD. Yeah!!

 

[CountryDuck]

Debbie,

Where did you stay when you stayed on Resort and for how many days?

Did you find it expensive for meals? I was thinking of trying to find a place with a kitchen but, I was wondering if we would use it more than just for breakfast.

 

[Debbie]

When we split the stay we did 7 days at HIFS/5 days at Beach Club and then the following year 7 days HIFS/5 at Dixie (POR~ I will NEVER give up my Dixie ) Because we are 7 we need 2 rooms and so it gets very expensive and that's one reason that I love HIFS! We did the FW cabins when we could (twice), and we did make a few dinners, but to be honest, after a day at the parks, I sure didn't want to cook. If we were to do it again, I know that my youngest 2 (the older 3 don't want to return ) would be happy with HIFS and All Stars. HTH!

 

[Susan-Ontario]

Good Thursday Morning,

We went a few years ago in early November and I'm pretty sure there were AP discounts on the Disney Resorts. They should be out in the next month or so?? I would book a hotel but then be sure to watch Mousesavers.com to see if a resort hotel comes in at a decent rate. We've split our trips most times. It's nice because it gives you something to look forward to later in the vacation. Not to sure I'd do it for only 8 days though. We bring a lot of stuff when we go and I'd hate to pack it all up after only three days. We like to stay on-site and so we try and save money by eating in our room. We always eat breakfast in our room. We always have lunch meat, yogourts, cheese slices, hot dogs (my son likes them cold), milk, cereal, bread and butter in our cooler. This allows us to have one big meal a day. My husband however would rather eat out every meal but that would add a lot of cost to the trip.
When we stayed at the cabins we did cook frozen pizzas a few nights and it made it easy to have KD and stuff for lunches. I don't recall ever cooking a big meal even though we could have. I don't cook at home so cooking on vacation probably isn't happening.

There are lots of choices out there. Decide what kind of trip you want to have and then plan from there. We're going back in December but only for 8 days. I'm not taking near as much food. What we need I'll pick up at the Wal-Mart in Kissimmee.

Have fun planning!!

 

[Manning2002]

Hi there,

Myself and 4 freinds are going to be at WDW the exact same time as you...kinda kewl.....

Anyways, I just wanted to let you know about the Hotels...we are staying off park, at the Days Inn Suites, and we got an awesome room rate for 2 weeks...$44 US per night for a one bedroom suite with 2 dbl beds, and a hide a bed, kitchen etc.

I have some further information at this website I found, I don't have it handy but if you like to check it out...I'll post it for you, I just have to remember it..

But ask me questions if you would like, be happy to answer them.
AND SEE YA THERE!!

Cole

 

[grover]

Hmmm-you may want to ask about the Days Inn on the Orlando area resorts/attractions board. I have read on the dis here many times that the Days Inn's around WDW are yuckky. Just a heads up. There are codes to stay onsite for November. We got all-star sports for 55.00 per night and akl for 119.00 per night. So it is not much more to stay on site. But then you wouldn't have a suite.
Grover in Winnipeg